


To The Wonder

by doubletrouble



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: harry is in it for like 2 sec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 23:10:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9629315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubletrouble/pseuds/doubletrouble
Summary: James now knew it was okay, that his hands trembled.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is just something short again, sorry! I was in my james potter feelings void last night so i wrote this ! Please enjoy, and lmk if you see any mistakes! Remember, kudos and comments are appreciated!

In the year after his time at Hogwarts, James does not worry about his future. He does not spend his time gazing out the window, wondering if he’ll live to see tomorrow and his hands definitely do not tremble at the word “war”. He is not afraid. He will not back down. James Potter is a brave man. A young, mischievous, and playful but brave man. 

 

Although, to say that James does not worry about his future, is not to say that James does not worry. He looks to his wife, by the glow of the fire, and wonders how long they have. How long it will be until he can see the sunlight through his wife’s red hair, how long until the war will be over and suddenly, he realizes it might not end, not for him. On a cold day in December of ‘79, James Potter has the jolting realization that he might not live to see the end of the war. He’d always knew he’d fight, that matter had always been a constant amongst the controls of the experiment that was his life. However, it had never occurred to him that he wouldn’t see the end of it. Now, the war seemed so daunting and for a moment, he is afraid. But then, Lily looks at him and gives him a soft smile and the world jerks back into motion. He knows he cannot be brave any longer. He has to be courageous. 

 

His mother had told him that the difference between being brave and being courageous was that to be brave meant you feared nothing. To be courageous, however, see  _ that  _ was something special. To be courageous, you had to act brave despite your fears, despite of anything holding you back. James now knew it was okay, that his hands trembled. That he had begun to gaze out the window, to wonder if he was going to live to see tomorrow. It was okay. 

 

Eventually a day will come when James will meet death, they will say hello, greet each other as they were always meant to and life will continue on. A day will come when death welcomes Lily as well, when the time for love and unhurried laughs will come to a stop and the world will howl in mourning. This day, this dreadful day, will also be the day that death looks their son in the face. Harry will look death in the eyes, and death will see the same courage his father held except this time, death will falter. Death hesitates and in turn, death will only take two Potters on this day. He will return, eventually, to take the third, but this is not that day.

 

For now, James will sit by the fire in his home, unknowing of what is to come and surprisingly at peace with it. Events will unfold as fate has planned it and James knows it’s all he can do to take them with an unflinching visage of imperviousness.  

 

It’s possible that James was not a brave man, that perhaps he was instead resilient. One supposes it doesn’t matter, really. There are people who will remember him as brave, as courageous—others will hear “James Potter” and think “martyr”. Maybe he was all of them.  Those who knew him, who really knew him, would have one thing to say about it. 

"It doesn't matter how you remember James—it just matters that you remember him." 

Suppose it's up to you if they were right or not. 

**Author's Note:**

> srry


End file.
